Books you're reading... and should read. | Page 6 | Vital Football

Books you're reading... and should read.

Oh, I love the Beck books. Of their time, but surprisingly fresh today and also highly influential on that genre of Scandinoir police procedural.

I'd recommend the William Wisting books, as well.

Read a second Beck, and it was ok, but any more will really be for the sake of it

Currently reading the first Wisting novel "Dregs", It's grabbing me and although I'm only part way through, plan to read more. Thanks for the tip
 
Read a second Beck, and it was ok, but any more will really be for the sake of it

Currently reading the first Wisting novel "Dregs", It's grabbing me and although I'm only part way through, plan to read more. Thanks for the tip

The Wisting novels actually get better by increments as the series progresses imho.

If you like American PI-type series, I'd recommend the Travis McGee novels by John D. MacDonald. Set in Florida, they start in the 60s and end in the early 80s. Lots of period colour, so again of their time, but very easy reading.
 
The Wisting novels actually get better by increments as the series progresses imho.

If you like American PI-type series, I'd recommend the Travis McGee novels by John D. MacDonald. Set in Florida, they start in the 60s and end in the early 80s. Lots of period colour, so again of their time, but very easy reading.

Thanks, Haven't read anything like that but I'll have a look into those
 
I'm at page 230 in the huge Churchill biography I'm reading. Only about 770 pages to go! Good thing it's interesting.
 
I'm about to start the third Whisting novel. Really enjoyed the previous two

Have spent the last week or two proof reading a novel by an old friend - he actually recruited me when we moved down here and he and his late wife became family friends. He had moved to this area about 6 years before us, and is a Geordie (from Whitburn, Notty). He has written over a dozen novels since he started writing after retirement, some based in the North East or the Lake District, where they spent a lot of time. At 93 years old the book before this one was about life in a care home - and he's going stir crazy at the moment - if he leaves the confines of the care home premises, he is required to self isolate, so can't get out for a walk or ride on his electric buggy
 
I'm about to start the third Whisting novel. Really enjoyed the previous two

Have spent the last week or two proof reading a novel by an old friend - he actually recruited me when we moved down here and he and his late wife became family friends. He had moved to this area about 6 years before us, and is a Geordie (from Whitburn, Notty). He has written over a dozen novels since he started writing after retirement, some based in the North East or the Lake District, where they spent a lot of time. At 93 years old the book before this one was about life in a care home - and he's going stir crazy at the moment - if he leaves the confines of the care home premises, he is required to self isolate, so can't get out for a walk or ride on his electric buggy

Excellent, good to hear! I think they get better as they go along.
 
Interesting couple of recent reads:-
Ben Elton - Identity Crisis which skewers woke/cancel culture etc, really funny though runs out of gas towards the end.

Johnathan Coe - Middle England. Just finished this one, beautifully written, very rooted in facts of the lunacy of the last 10 years or so, also at times very funny but overall a much more serious novel.
 
Interesting couple of recent reads:-
Ben Elton - Identity Crisis which skewers woke/cancel culture etc, really funny though runs out of gas towards the end.

Johnathan Coe - Middle England. Just finished this one, beautifully written, very rooted in facts of the lunacy of the last 10 years or so, also at times very funny but overall a much more serious novel.

I've only read one Ben Elton book, High Society. A good read
 
"Travels in the Third Reich".

An eclectic history drawing on first-hand accounts by students, ex-soldiers, diplomats, academics, tourists, school kids - you name it, really. Unfiltered by later history, as it were, it's a fascinating contemporaneous look at the German State, from the late Weimar to the start of WW2.
 
Went away last week, and borrowed a book from my son, "Stalingrad" by Antony Beevor. It's a fairly hefty tome which I'm still reading, and my son warned me that there are parts which don't make good bedtime reading. It provides a graphic description of the conditions faced by both sides, and the cruelty and total lack of respect for their own citizens/soldiers by both Hitler and Stalin, each being shown as equally narcissistic. I certainly had one night of bad dreams after a day when I'd read a fair chunk
 
Went away last week, and borrowed a book from my son, "Stalingrad" by Antony Beevor. It's a fairly hefty tome which I'm still reading, and my son warned me that there are parts which don't make good bedtime reading. It provides a graphic description of the conditions faced by both sides, and the cruelty and total lack of respect for their own citizens/soldiers by both Hitler and Stalin, each being shown as equally narcissistic. I certainly had one night of bad dreams after a day when I'd read a fair chunk

I've read that, and it's not bad. Beevor has written a few others, including one about the fall of Berlin (which I've also read) and his most recent being about D-Day, I think.
 
I've read that, and it's not bad. Beevor has written a few others, including one about the fall of Berlin (which I've also read) and his most recent being about D-Day, I think.

Not a huge fan of Beevor to be honest. I found his D-day book extremely derivative and completely lacking in any fresh perspective. But if you want a general overview of the basics then he's fine.
 
During this afternoon, while I has half an eye on the Forum, Mrs S was watching Apollo 13, and it reminded me of a book I have which is certainly worth a read = Failure is not an Option, an (auto?)biography of Gene Krantz, flight Director at NASA - what a job, what a character
 
During this afternoon, while I has half an eye on the Forum, Mrs S was watching Apollo 13, and it reminded me of a book I have which is certainly worth a read = Failure is not an Option, an (auto?)biography of Gene Krantz, flight Director at NASA - what a job, what a character

I've read a few books about, but not that one. Film is pretty good, as well.
 
Currently on the saboteur of Auschwitz. I like military books about people who have been through adversity and come out the other side.
 
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